draag: Nontoxic Process

Posted on

26.10.18

Introduced this past summer by the wonderful, many-sided single that was EP opener, Sorry (Dispensa), the longtime in the making, Nontoxic Process, by LA's draag is lastly out in its entirety. The initial idea for the EP started many years ago as a series of embryonic, experimental recordings on a karaoke dual tape deck machine by musician and songwriter, Adrian Acosta, which later became the groundwork for draag to expand on, as a full-fledged five-piece band. On the way the EP was challenged by illness and other personal conflicts, but it's finally available for all enthusiasts of colorful, shoegaze-y, dark pop music to revel in.

Most of the time airy, dreamlike and ambitiously glossy, yet, often explosive and unapologetic, the album has the confidence to introduce an unanticipated grunge approach, ample grit, some elegant psychedelic blurriness and more elements from diverse styles into its already whimsical and stable foundation. The result is a set of six songs, all of which could have the fortitude to be highlighted as singles, yet, more likely to be principally consumed from the more underground-inclined audiences, the introverts, the disenfranchised and the pariahs.